Breastfeeding mothers commonly experience milk leakage, often soiling outer garments. Three main solutions are on the market today. Disposable Nursing Pads, Cloth Nursing Pads, and Silicone Nursing Pads. These each have their advantages and disadvantages, all of which the present invention sets out to address holistically.
The first solution, disposable nursing pads, present the same environmental costs as diapers do (utilizing raw materials and filling landfills), which are increasingly important to earth-conscious consumers. These disposable nursing pads feature a peel-and-stick area to help secure the pad inside a shirt or bra. On some fabrics and garments it is difficult to secure these pads. Further still, because they do not adhere to the skin, they can shift with clothing and slip off of the nipple, allowing leaking to occur.
The second solution, cloth nursing pads, is designed to be washable and reusable. Featuring a soft fabric in one or more layers, these pads can absorb a reasonable quantity of milk; however, as they do not adhere to the skin, they may not remain securely in place over the nipple, eventually allowing some leakage. Furthermore, once the cloth nursing pad has absorbed milk, even gentle pressure to the absorbent material can cause some milk can run down the breast.
The third solution, silicone nursing pads, is also washable and reusable. A silicone lamina, has the general advantage of tightly adhering to the skin, making a seal around the nipple. With silicone nursing pads, there is no capacity to absorb the milk, and as some milk expresses and escapes to the area between the breast and the silicone nursing pad, it can build enough pressure to cause the milk to leak and quickly soil garments.